Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Forest fragmentation does not matter to invasions by Hovenia dulcis

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Testing whether biological invasions can be facilitated by habitat fragmentation can provide important insights for the study of invasion ecology. Hovenia dulcis is considered an aggressive non-native species in subtropical Atlantic forest ecosystems and following the assumptions of invasion ecology we hypothesized it would occur mainly in smaller forest remnants, which are more susceptible to edge effects compared to larger ones. In this study, we verified the relationships between H. dulcis invasion on forest remnants and the current habitat fragmentation and tested whether both occurrence and abundance of this species are driven by landscape and habitat variables. We selected 30 forest fragments in initial, middle or late successional stages and verified the occurrence and abundance of trees and saplings of H. dulcis. We evaluated spatial autocorrelation and the influence of landscape and habitat metrics on occurrence and abundance of such species and the influence of fruiting trees (adults) on the abundance of non-adult individuals. We found that H. dulcis distribution was not related to geographic distance among remnants. The occurrence of adult H. dulcis was directly associated to closed-canopy areas and remnant shape and, contrary our initial hypothesis, not related to remnant size. The occurrence of adult trees increased H. dulcis regeneration leading to higher sapling abundance. High abundance of H. dulcis saplings close to adult trees pointed out the successful colonization of recently invaded Atlantic forest remnants. We showed that this invasive tree species successfully invades closed-canopy forest fragments, which highlight undisturbed subtropical Atlantic forest habitats are as susceptible to biological invasions as disturbed ones.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arroyo-Rodríguez V, Rös M, Escobar F, Melo FPL, Santos BA, Tabarelli M, Chazdon R (2013) Plant β-diversity in fragmented rain forests: testing floristic homogenization and differentiation hypotheses. J Ecol 101:1449–1458. doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernardi S, Budke JC (2010) Estrutura da sinúsia epifítica e efeito de borda em uma área de transição entre Floresta Estacional Semidecídua e Floresta Ombrófila Mista. Floresta 40:81–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolker BM, Brooks ME, Clark CJ, Geange SW, Poulsen JR, Stevens MHH, White JS (2009) Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 24:127–135. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.10.008

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown N, Jennings S, Wheeler P, Nabe-Nielsen J (2000) An improved method for the rapid assessment of forest understorey light environments. J Appl Ecol 37:1044–1053. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2664.2000.00573.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budke JC, Alberti MS, Zanardi C, Barrato C, Zanin EM (2010) Bamboo dieback and tree regeneration responses in a subtropical forest of South America. For Ecol Manag 260:1345–1349. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.07.028

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho PER (1994) Ecologia, silvicultura e usos da uva-do-Japão (Hovenia dulcis Thunberg). Embrapa, Colombo

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis MA (2005) Invasion biology 1958–2004: the pursuit of science and conservation. In: Cadotte MW et al (eds) Conceptual ecology and invasions biology: reciprocal approaches to nature. Kluwer Publishers, London, pp 1–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis M, Grime J, Thompson K (2000) Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibility. J Ecol 88:528–534. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2745.2000.00473.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dechoum MS, Castellani TT, Zalba SM, Rejmánek M, Peroni N, Tamashiro JY (2014) Community structure, succession and invisibility in a seasonal deciduous forest in southern Brazil. Biol Invasions 17 (in press). doi: 10.1007/s10530-014-0827-6

  • Decian VS, Santos JE, Zanin EM (2011) Análise e zoneamento ambiental da bacia hidrográfica dos rios Ligeirinho e Leãozinho (Erechim-RS). In: Santos JE et al (eds) Faces da Polissemia da Paisagem. Rima, São Carlos, pp 160–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Decker KL, Allen CR, Acosta L, Hellman ML, Jorgensen CF, Stutzman RJ, Unstad KM, Williams A, Yans M (2012) Land use, landscapes, and biological invasions. Invasive Plant Sci Manag 5:108–116. doi:10.1614/IPSM-D-11-00007.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dislich R, Kisser N, Pivello V (2002) A invasão de um fragmento florestal em São Paulo-SP pela palmeira australiana Archontophoenix cunninghamiana H. Wendl. & Drude. Braz J Bot 25:55–64. doi:10.1590/S0100-84042002000100008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Essl F, Milasowszky N, Dirnböck T (2011) Plant invasions in temperate forests: resistance or ephemeral phenomenon? Basic Appl Ecol 12:1–9. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2010.10.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Essl F, Mang T, Moser D (2012) Ancient and recent alien species in temperate forests: steady state and time lags. Biol Invasions 14:1331–1342. doi:10.1007/s10530-011-0156-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Lindenmayer DB (2007) Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation: a synthesis. Global Ecol Biogeogr 16:265–280. doi:10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00287.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes-Ramírez A, Pauchard A, Cavieres LA, García RA (2011) Survival and growth of Acacia dealbata vs. native trees across an invasion front in south-central Chile. For Ecol Manag 261:1003–1009. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.12.018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godoy O, Saldaña A, Fuentes N, Valladares F, Gianoli E (2011) Forests are not immune to plant invasions: phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation allow Prunella vulgaris to colonize a temperate evergreen rainforest. Biol Invasions 13:1615–1625. doi:10.1007/s10530-010-9919-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch BT (2011) Spatial position and feeding success in ring-tailed coatis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65:581–591. doi:10.1007/s00265-010-1058-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kupfer JA, Malanson GP, Franklin SB (2006) Not seeing the ocean for the islands : the mediating influence of matrix-based processes on forest fragmentation effects. Global Ecol Biogeogr 15:8–20. doi:10.1111/j.1466-822x.2006.00204.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF, Bierregaard RO (1997) Tropical forest remnants: ecology, management, and conservation of fragmented communities. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF, Camargo JLC, Luizão RCC, Laurance SG, Pimm SL, Bruna EM, Stouffer PC, Williamson GB, Benitez-Malvido J, Vasconcelos HL, Van Houtan KS, Zartman CE, Boyle SA, Didham RK, Andrade A, Lovejoy TE (2011) The fate of Amazonian forest fragments: a 32-year investigation. Biol Conserv 144:56–67. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.09.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzi H, Souza HM, Torres MAV, Bacher LB (2003) Árvores exóticas no Brasil: madeireiras, ornamentais e aromáticas. Nova Odessa, São Paulo

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin PH, Marks PL (2006) Intact forests provide only weak resistance to a shade-tolerant invasive Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.). J Ecol 94:1070–1079. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01159.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin PH, Canham CD, Marks PL (2009) Why forests appear resistant to exotic plant invasions: intentional introductions, stand dynamics, and the role of shade tolerance. Front Ecol Environ 7:142–149. doi:10.1890/070096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGarigal K, Marks BJ (1995) Fragstats: spatial patterns analysis program for quantifying landscape structure. USDA, Colorado

    Google Scholar 

  • Metzger J (2000) Tree functional group richness and landscape structure in a Brazilian tropical fragmented landscape. Ecol Appl 10:1147–1161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira-Filho AT, Budke JC, Jarenkow JA, Eisenlohr PV, Neves DRM (2013) Delving into the variations in tree species composition and richness across South American subtropical Atlantic and Pampean forests. J Plant Ecol. doi:10.1093/jpe/rtt058

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauchard A, Alaback PB (2004) Influence of elevation, land use, and landscape context on patterns of alien plant invasions along roadsides in protected areas of South-central Chile. Conserv Biol 18:238–248. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00300.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2013) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for statistical computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Réjou-Méchain M, Flores O, Bourland N, Doucet JL, Fétéké RF, Pasquier A, Hardy OJ (2011) Spatial aggregation of tropical trees at multiple spatial scales. J Ecol 99:1373–1381. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2011.01873.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson DM (2011) Invasion science: the road travelled and the roads ahead. In: Richardson DM (ed) Fifty years of invasion ecology: the legacy of Charles Elton. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp 397–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson D, Pyšek P (2008) Fifty years of invasion ecology—the legacy of Charles Elton. Divers Distrib 14:161–168. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00464.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson D, Pyšek P (2012) Naturalization of introduced plants: ecological drivers of biogeographical patterns. New Phytol 196:383–396. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04292.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson DM, Pyšek P, Rejmánek M, Barbour MG, Panetta FD, West CJ (2000) Naturalization and invasion of alien plants: concepts and definitions. Divers Distrib 6:93–107. doi:10.1046/j.1472-4642.2000.00083.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selle GL, Vuaden E, Braz EM, Cunha TA (2010) Uso do dendrograma de manejo de densidade : uma aplicação prática com Hovenia dulcis Thunberg. Sci For 38:247–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Terborgh J, Loayza PA, Dexter K, Cornejo F, Carrasco C (2011) Decomposing dispersal limitation: limits on fecundity or seed distribution? J Ecol 99:935–944. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2011.01836.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • With KA (2002) The landscape ecology of invasive spread. Conserv Biol 16:1192–1203. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01064.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zenni RD, Ziller SR (2011) An overview of invasive plants in Brazil. Braz J Bot 34:431–446. doi:10.1590/S0100-84042011000300016

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Msc. Franciele Fath and Msc. Graciele Neumman by helping in field surveys; to Dr. Adriano Melo (UFG), Dr. Luiz Hepp (URI) and Dr. Marcus Vinicius Cianciaruso (UFG) by advising on data analysis; Dr. Ramiro Bustamante and Jose Morales Salinas (Universidad de Chile) for suggestions on the first draft of the manuscript. Dr. Vanderlei Decian (URI) helped to landscape image data and IDRISI analysis; To Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões—URI Erechim by financial and logistic supports. J.C. Budke received grants from FAPERGS (Nos. 0904610 and 2501.12-6) and CNPq (No. 481920/2010-2).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas (ICB V), Universidade Federal de Goiás, CP 131, Goiânia, GO, CEP 74001-970, Brazil

    Danira Letícia Padilha

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CP 15007, Porto Alegre, RS, CEP 91501-970, Brazil

    Alexandre Copatti Loregian

  3. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões – URI Campus de Erechim, Av. Sete de Setembro, 1628, Erechim, RS, CEP 99700-000, Brazil

    Jean Carlos Budke

Authors
  1. Danira Letícia Padilha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexandre Copatti Loregian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jean Carlos Budke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Carlos Budke.

Additional information

Communicated by Jefferson Prado.

Appendix

Appendix

See appendix Table 2.

Table 2 Independent and dependent variables measured in subtropical Atlantic forests remnants of southern Brazil
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Padilha, D.L., Loregian, A.C. & Budke, J.C. Forest fragmentation does not matter to invasions by Hovenia dulcis . Biodivers Conserv 24, 2293–2304 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0930-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0930-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation